0:00
Hi, I'm Mark Stagger. I play the
0:01
demogorgan in Stranger Things and uh
0:03
played many many different characters uh
0:05
over the years. What do I remember about
0:07
working on the same set with David
0:09
Harour and Winona Ryder? Um Winona is
0:12
lovely. She's just such a lovely woman.
0:14
Just a really joy to work with. Very
0:16
professional and very present. Um and
0:19
just, you know, someone that it's just
0:21
easy, you know, the kind of perfect
0:23
perfect actor to work with. And um David
0:27
actually didn't have any scenes with. I
0:29
was at a party, a Netflix party. It was
0:31
after the the first season came out and
0:34
I started talking to David uh David and
0:37
um we were having this conversation. He
0:38
was acting kind of strange, you know,
0:40
sort of like like he wanted to get away
0:42
from me as soon as possible. And um and
0:45
then we, you know, said goodbyes and he
0:50
he came back like 15 minutes later. He's
0:52
like, "Oh man, I'm so sorry. I didn't
0:53
know I didn't know it was you. I didn't
0:55
know who you were. I just thought you
0:56
were some some weirdo talking to me."
0:58
Um, so, uh, that's the thing about what
1:01
I do is a lot a lot of times even my
1:03
castmates don't recognize me if I'm out
1:05
of costume. I was part of Stranger
1:07
Things season 1 when the core cast was
1:09
really young. What was like being on set
1:11
with them and watching them grow into
1:12
the stars they are today. It's pretty
1:14
remarkable actually. I mean, those
1:16
people you see on screen are pretty much
1:18
the people that they are. They're really
1:21
um just all very down to earth and
1:23
really just just kind of terrific people
1:25
and um you know they're all really just
1:28
smart and talented and you know just I
1:30
really can't say enough about them. Um
1:32
it's a one of the one of the funnest
1:35
groups of people I've ever worked with
1:37
and one of the most generous. You were
1:39
born in ' 62 so you remember the '8s
1:41
well. Did Stranger Things get it right
1:43
in terms of set wardrobe and story? Um,
1:48
Stranger Things did an excellent job uh
1:50
with the sets and wardrobe and all that.
1:52
And one of the things that they really
1:54
paid attention to that people don't
1:56
don't always realize is that um,
2:00
you know, you if you're doing a period
2:02
piece, you don't just have things from
2:03
that period, you have things from before
2:05
that period as well. So, you know,
2:07
you're going to a house in the ' 80s,
2:08
they're going to have things from the '
2:09
70s and maybe the maybe even the ' 60s.
2:12
So it's not just, you know, it's not
2:15
just, you know, if it was just from that
2:16
era, it wouldn't be authentic. Um, but,
2:18
you know, so many of the things in that
2:20
were, you know, even just like the
2:21
Pinto. I remember a friend of mine in
2:24
high school had a pin drove a Pinto. So,
2:26
um, it was kind of a kind of kick when I
2:28
was my first day on set. I I I was um
2:31
walking by the Pinto and, you know, so
2:33
it was kind of a kick. You brought the
2:34
Demogorgan to life in Stranger Things
2:36
with pure physical performance. How did
2:38
you develop its movement and
2:42
Well, the the the beginning of any kind
2:44
of work with a creature is it starts
2:47
with um starts with the script. It
2:49
starts with talking to directors um to
2:52
find out what it is they're thinking,
2:53
what they how they envision the the
2:55
creature. And then I um I usually go in
2:58
and work on my own a bit um developing
3:01
different physical behaviors. I ask
3:02
myself certain questions like uh where
3:05
do I come from? What's the gravity like
3:07
there? You know, what do I breathe? You
3:09
know, just simple things. What do I
3:10
want? It's a very basic actor question.
3:13
And then um uh the other thing that
3:17
dictates that how the performance goes
3:18
is how is how the character is designed
3:22
and what the suit or prosthetic you know
3:24
what the makeup is like because that
3:26
dictates that has a lot to do with the
3:28
biometrics you know how it changes your
3:30
biometrics like what you know um the
3:32
demogorgan um it's basically humanoid
3:35
but has very different you know very
3:37
unique um uh features that that only the
3:41
demogorgon has Um, so that's generally
3:45
the process. I mean, it's a little more
3:47
involved than that, but a lot of it's
3:48
just, you know, uh, getting when I
3:51
finally when I'm finally in makeup,
3:53
fully in makeup is when I really know
3:55
when I, you know, I look in the mirror
3:56
and it's like, oh, there you are. You
3:59
performed as creatures and I am legend,
4:00
the last witch hunter and scary stories
4:02
tell in the dark. What's the biggest
4:03
challenge about embodying something
4:08
well the biggest challenge is actually
4:11
um I mean there's challenges in in
4:13
coming up with behavior like I mentioned
4:15
earlier um and you know embodying it
4:19
physically uh a lot of that
4:22
psychological but when it in a basic s
4:25
in a very very nuts andbolt sense like
4:27
the the dictates of the suit of the
4:31
costume and the makeup that I'm wearing
4:33
uh affects my performance quite a A lot
4:36
of times I can't even see cuz I'll
4:37
either have um you know contact lenses
4:41
that barely see out of or maybe my the
4:43
character like in priest doesn't have
4:45
eyes um and sometimes I can't I I have
4:49
trouble I can't breathe out my nose and
4:51
maybe I don't have ears so I can't hear
4:53
and uh sometimes it's difficult to go in
4:55
the bathroom um if I can at all. Uh so
4:58
those those things are really
